The national tour of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, starring Alicia Hall Moran, Nathaniel Stampley and Tony Award nominee Phillip Boykin, will launch in November at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre.

Phillip Boykin
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

The Gershwin and Heyward estates enlisted Tony-nominated Hair and Pippin director Diane Paulus to help bring new context to Porgy and Bess for contemporary audiences, whittling the American folk opera down from four hours to a two-and-a-half-hour running time. It opened to critical acclaim on Broadway Jan. 12, 2012, earning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

The production concluded its Broadway run Sept. 23 after 321 performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Hall Moran understudied Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as Bess in the Broadway revival of the musical last season, in addition to performing the role on Wednesday evenings. Stampley portrayed Robbins in the revival and also covered the role of Porgy. Original revival cast member Boykin, who earned a Tony nomination for portraying the menacing Crown, will reprise his work on the tour.

The tour will also feature original Broadway revival cast members Sumayya Ali as Clara, Dan Barnhill as the Detective, Bryonha Marie Parham as Serena, Allison Blackwell as a Woman of Catfish Row, Roosevelt André Credit as a Fisherman and Joseph Dellger as the Policeman.

To reinvigorate the characters and bolster the dramatic impact of the story, Paulus brought on board Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, Book of Grace), who is credited with adaptation and additional scenes, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Diedre Murray (Running Man), credited with musical adaptation.

According to the producers, Porgy and Bess "is set in Charleston's fabled Catfish Row, where the beautiful Bess struggles to break free from her scandalous past, and the only one who can rescue her is the crippled but courageous Porgy. Threatened by her formidable former lover Crown, and the seductive enticements of the colorful troublemaker Sporting Life, Porgy and Bess' relationship evolves into a deep romance that triumphs as one of theatre's most exhilarating love stories."